Lessons #399 and 400
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Exposition of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:26-34)
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
Recall the message of this section of 1 Corinthians 11:26-34 is: You must approach the Lord’s Supper with awe since there are consequences for failing to do so correctly. The passage, as we stated previously, is concerned with the exposition of the Lord’s Supper and its celebration as the Holy Spirit gave through Apostle Paul. We have considered completely the first of three issues involved in its exposition which is an explanation of what remembrance of the Lord means in the context of the Lord’s Supper that involves looking backwards to the death of Christ on the cross with all the implications of His death. We also indicated that it is forward looking in that the remembrance of Christ anticipates His second coming. Following this, we started in our last study on the second of three issues involved in the exposition of the Lord’s Supper which is the correct approach to its celebration. This involves two elements. We have considered the first element of self-evaluation that must take place prior to and during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. So, this morning, we begin with the second element of the second issue involved in the exposition of subject matter of the Lord’s Supper as the Holy Spirit provided Apostle Paul.
The second element concerning the correct approach to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper concerns the proper attitude the believer should have as the person comes to the Table of the Lord’s Supper. This attitude is that of selflessness or unselfishness. We are saying that the correct way to approach the Table of the Lord’s Supper is to ensure that one is concerned about other believers’ participation in it. This means that you should be concerned that you do not do anything that will endanger the spiritual well-being of other believers during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This selflessness is manifested in two ways described by the apostle. The first way is to ensure that all believers participate in the celebration at the same time. This first way of ensuring selflessness on the part of every believer is given in the first instruction the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul gave to the Corinthians and so to all believers in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.
The first clause of 1 Corinthians 11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other is still concerned with the way to avoid the consequences of improper participation in the Lord’s Supper. This is because of the first phrase so then. The phrase “so then” is translated from a Greek particle (hōste) that may be used either as a marker of purpose with the meaning “in order that, so that” or a marker of result with the meaning “therefore” or even “for this reason.” However, in some situations, it may be difficult to differentiate purpose from result. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:33, it is used to draw inference or for deduction from a preceding sentence so that it could be translated “therefore” or “so then” as reflected in the NIV and many other English versions. By way, the translators of the NIV translated our Greek particle “therefore” in two other passages where our Greek particle is used in a way similar to our verse of consideration. In the fourteenth chapter of this first epistle to the Corinthians, following the apostle’s instruction regarding spiritual gifts, he issued the warning where our Greek particle is translated “therefore” in 1 Corinthians 14:39
Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Likewise, after the apostle wrote concerning victory of believers over death through bodily resurrection, he encouraged believers to remain faithful. He began his encouragement with our Greek word that is translated “therefore” in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 15:58:
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
This notwithstanding, the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other we are considering is telling those addressed how to ensure they avoid the consequences of improper participation in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in their local church.
Those addressed in the clause we are considering are described with the phrase my brothers. This is the second of the four times Apostle Paul used the Greek phrase translated my brothers to address the Corinthians. Indeed, the apostle used the Greek phrase translated my brothers a total of eight times in all his epistles, four other times in the rest of his epistles, namely, twice in his epistle to the Romans and twice in his epistle to the Philippians. When the apostle wanted to emphasize that believers in Christ are dead to the law; he used our Greek phrase as he applied the principle he stated, regarding how a woman is free from the law of marriage once the husband dies, to those who are in Christ as being dead to the law as we read in Romans 7:4:
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
A second time the apostle used our phrase in his epistles to Romans is to express his confidence in them regarding their goodness, knowledge, ability to admonish or correct one another, referred to as instructing one another in Romans 15:14:
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
The apostle used our Greek phrase translated my brothers when he first encouraged the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord as we read in Philippians 3:1:
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
The second time the apostle used our Greek phrase translated my brothers in his epistle to the Philippians is in making his final appeal to them regarding remaining faithful in the Lord as we read in Philippians 4:1:
Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
As we stated, outside these four usages, the other four usages are found in his first epistle to the Corinthians. The first time the apostle used it in his epistle to the Corinthians, it was prior to him mentioning the division or the spirit of partisanship that was among the Corinthians as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:11:
My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
We have, of course, cited previously the other three usages of the Greek phrase in the apostle’s first epistle to the Corinthians.
Why make an issue of the phrase my brothers? You may ask. Firstly, it is because it is the phrase the apostle used to emphasize and to focus the attention of his readers on an important fact or instruction, he intended for them to get. Secondly, it is the implication of the word “brothers” in the pen of Apostle Paul. To understand this implication, we need to examine the word “brothers” as used in the Greek text. The word “brothers” is translated from a Greek word (adelphos) that has several meanings in the Greek. It could mean “brother” in the sense of a male person from the same mother as the referenced person. It is in this sense that the word is used by Apostle Paul to reference James as one from the same mother as Jesus in His humanity in Galatians 1:19:
I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
The word may mean “a believer” as that is the sense of the word “brother” in 1 Corinthians 5:11:
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
The clause anyone who calls himself a brother should be understood as one who claims to be a believer. Hence the word “brother” is the same as believer. Thus, it is not surprising that the translators of the NIV translated the Greek word as “believers” in 1 Corinthians 6:5:
I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
The phrase between believers is literally between his brothers. In keeping with this understanding, the word may mean “brother” in the sense of one who has the same beliefs with the one that uses the word, irrespective of gender, that is, the word refers to “a fellow believer.” It is in this sense of one who shares the same faith and so belongs to a specific Christian community, that is, a “fellow believer” that Apostle Paul used the word to describe Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25:
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
It is in this sense of fellow believers, regardless of gender, that Apostle Paul used it in his final greetings to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 6:23:
Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace the apostle wished on “the brothers” could not possibly apply only to male members of the church in Ephesus. Therefore, the word “brothers” has the sense of “brothers and sisters in Christ” here in Ephesians 6:23. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:33, it is used in the sense of “fellow believer” regardless of gender. Thus, the second reason apostle used the phrase my brothers in 1 Corinthians 11:33 is to continue to emphasize to the Corinthians that they together with him belong to the same family of God in Christ. Furthermore, his use of the phrase may be his way of getting the Corinthians to think of their relationship with each other so that they recognize the importance of being concerned for others and acting in a selflessness manner as persons in the same family should towards one another.
The apostle having gotten the attention of the Corinthians in a way that should remind them of their relationship with each other in Christ, proceeded to describe how they should manifest selflessness during their fellowship meal that leads up to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It is this manifestation of selflessness that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:33 when you come together to eat, wait for each other. The apostle was clear that it is the meeting of believers for fellowship meal that leads up to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that he had in mind. This is because, the expression “come together” is translated from a Greek word (synerchomai) that may mean “to come/go” with someone in the sense of traveling with the person as the word is used to describe the believers who accompanied Apostle Peter as he went to the house of Cornelius to give him the gospel of Jesus Christ as we read in Acts 10:23:
Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along.
The word may mean “to come together,” that is, to unite in an intimate relationship in a sexual context as the word is used in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding the matter of frequency of sexual relationship in marriage as we read in 1 Corinthians 7:5:
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
The word may mean “to assemble,” that is, to come together with others as a group as in the assembling of believers for worship as Apostle Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:26:
What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:33, it is used in the sense of “to meet,” that is, “to get together for a specific purpose.” The specific purpose of getting together of the Corinthians is to ultimately celebrate the Lord’s Supper which requires actions on the part of the Corinthians.
The first main action of ensuring selflessness the Holy Spirit gave through Apostle Paul to the Corinthians and so the church at large of ensuring that all believers participate in the celebration at the same time is in the instruction of 1 Corinthians 11:33 wait for each other. By the way, there are those who take this instruction not as waiting for each other but to receive each other hospitably. This other interpretation does not seem to be what the apostle meant since in 1 Corinthians 11:21 the apostle chided some for not waiting for others before eating during the fellowship meal that preceded the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Anyway, the expression “wait for” is translated from a Greek word (ekdechomai) that may mean “to look forward” as it is used to describe the mindset of Abraham that enable him to relocate his family as we read in Hebrews 11:10:
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
The word may mean “to expect” as Apostle Paul used it to describe his expectation regarding Timothy and others joining him as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:11:
No one, then, should refuse to accept him. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
The word may mean “to wait” as it is used to describe the state or condition Apostle Paul was in as he expected the arrival of Timothy and Silas to join him in Athens as we read in Acts 17:16:
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:33, the word means “to wait,” in the sense of to remain in a place and wait for an event.
The instruction of 1 Corinthians 11:33 wait for each other is particularly important in Corinth and to the early church where a fellowship meal preceded the Lord’s Supper. I am not aware of local churches today that follow the same pattern as the church in Corinth or the early church so that the Lord’s Supper is preceded by the fellowship meal or love feast. This does not mean that there may not be a group of believers somewhere on this planet who do this, I am only acknowledging my ignorance of such a practice today. Anyway, when the apostle wrote this instruction, he intended for the church in Corinth to form the habit of doing what he instructed or that it should be carried out repeatedly whenever the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated since he used a present tense in the Greek in the command he used. Today, most local churches obey this instruction if the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is carried out after all believers are seated before the ceremony takes place. Furthermore, this waiting, takes place in the form that all participants in the celebration are expected to hold on to the elements used for the Lord’s Supper until everyone has been served and then the one who administers it instructs everyone to partake of the element. This aside, the purpose of waiting for others before partaking of the elements is to convey that the participants show selflessness during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
A second way of ensuring selflessness on the part of believers in Corinth was to recognize that fellowship meal or the Lord’s Supper that follows is not intended merely to satisfy one’s hunger as it is for fellowship with other believers. This recognition is derived from the clause of 1 Corinthians 11:34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. The conditional clause If anyone is hungry recognizes something that could happen. This is because the word “if” is translated from a Greek particle (ei) that may be used as a marker of a condition, real, hypothetical, actual, or contrary to fact. Here the apostle used it to present a real situation that would likely take place in Corinth as the church meets to eat the fellowship meal that leads to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper which is that a person could come so hungry that the tendency would be to try to satisfy that hunger and so would begin to eat before others arrive. The apostle says in effect that the purpose of fellowship meal or the Lord’s Supper is not primarily to satisfy hunger as it is for fellowship of believers and obeying the Lord’s instruction regarding the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It is for this reason the apostle gives the second action some may have to take before coming to the fellowship meal and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
The second action of ensuring selflessness during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the apostle instructed is given in the sentence he should eat at home. This instruction of eating at home before coming to the fellowship meal and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper would not make sense unless a person understands that the purpose of fellowship meal is not merely to satisfy hunger as it is for fellowship of believers and celebration of the Lord’s Supper that followed. Apparently, some individuals think that the fellowship meal is merely to satisfy hunger and so they would absent themselves from such gatherings of believers if they could not eat what is offered and satisfy their hunger. A person who thinks this way does not understand that fellowship meal of believers is more than food. It is for believers to mingle with each other in a way that is not possible during worship service. If you absent yourself from fellowship meal, you are selfish in that you are only concerned about yourself and not the other believers. How do you know that your presence at such a meal would not be encouraging to another believer in a way that you would not have imagined? Let’s grant that you may not be able to eat what others bring, then why don’t you bring one that you can eat so to be a part of the fellowship of believers. Anyway, it was because of abuse of the fellowship meal that selflessness requires that a person should eat at home to ensure that the individual is not starving when the person comes to the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper that would cause such an individual to want to eat without waiting for others to arrive.
Be that as it may, the instruction to Corinthians to eat at home before coming to the fellowship meal that leads to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is to safeguard against the consequences of improper participation in the Lord’s Supper. Thus, the apostle gives the justification for advocating eating at home before coming to the fellowship meal associated with the Lord’s Supper as we read in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 11:34 so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. As we have alluded, the clause tells us that the purpose of eating at home prior to the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper is avoiding God’s eventual punishment. You see, the word “judgment” is translated from the Greek noun (krima) that may mean “judgment, judging” as the action/function of a judge as it is used of what God does, as stated in 1 Peter 4:17:
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
The word may refer to legal decision rendered by a judge, that is, “judicial verdict” thus the word may be used for a condemnatory verdict so may mean “condemnation” as the word is used to describe fate of false teachers in 2 Peter 2:3:
In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
The word may mean “punishment” as it is used for the prostitute in Revelation 17:1:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:34, it means “condemnation” in the sense of a legal decision of guilty often with the ensuing punishment understood. Thus, the apostle is concerned that a believer who celebrates the Lord’s Supper should not be in a state of soul that would bring God’s condemnation and subsequent punishment. A person would come under God’s judgment in the setting of the fellowship meal and the Lord’s Supper if the person becomes selfish as manifested in wanting to satisfy hunger at the expense of ensuring that other believers could eat portions of food brought for fellowship meal. The point of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul is that we should be selfless when believers are gathered for fellowship meal, especially as it leads to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. With this exposition we have ended the second point of the apostle in his exposition of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper which is the correct approach to it, so we turn our attention to the final exposition that the apostle gave regarding it.
The third and final exposition of Apostle Paul concerning the Lord’s Supper is about the consequences of its improper celebration. That the apostle is concerned with the consequences of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is introduced with the first word Therefore that begins 1 Corinthians 11:27. The word “therefore” is translated from a Greek particle we encountered in verse 33 that we indicated may be used either as a marker of purpose with the meaning “in order that, so that” or a marker of result with the meaning “therefore” or even “for this reason.” In verse 27, it is used to draw inference or for deduction from a preceding sentence so that it could be translated “therefore” or “so” as reflected in many other English versions or even it could be translated “so then” as reflected in the 2011 edition of the NIV and a handful of English versions. Nonetheless, it is probably better to render it “for this reason” as reflected in the NET. The advantage of this translation is that it forces the reader to look for the reason of what is stated next in the verse. This reason refers to verse 26 where the apostle explained what it is that believers do whenever they celebrate the Lord’s Supper. They are announcing broadly in words or through actions of eating the bread and drinking the wine the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. It is because of this that the apostle stated what would happen if one celebrated the Lord’s Supper improperly.
The idea of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is introduced in verse 27 whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. The fact that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is involved in this clause is conveyed in the verbal phrase eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord. This is because eating the bread and drinking from the cup, that is, drinking the wine in the cup are ways to convey participation in the Lord’s Supper. Of course, the main concern of the apostle in the verse is the improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper indicated in the phrase in an unworthy manner.
What does the apostle mean in the phrase in an unworthy manner? By the way, the phrase in an unworthy manner is translated from a Greek word (anaxiōs) that means “unworthily,” that is, in a manner unbefitting or underserving (of some person or other object). Hence, the apostle indicates that there is a manner of celebration of the Lord’s Supper that belie the significance of the celebration. This manner that is not befitting its celebration has been interpreted differently, such as a reference to abusing the Lord’s Supper without acknowledging the value of the elements or how some mistreat others by letting them go hungry or irreverence in the form of selfish and greedy behavior. It is our interpretation that the unworthy manner refers to celebrating the Lord’s Supper in such a way that belies the significance of the celebration that conveys the death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Our interpretation and that of others may be simply reduced to celebrating it without being under the control of the Holy Spirit. Put in another way, it is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper when a person is under the influence of sin since it is impossible to be controlled by the Holy Spirit when sin is present in the soul of the believer. In the context of the phrase in an unworthy manner we are considering, the apostle had referenced two sins that are related in the context. The first sin the apostle mentioned is selfishness that is reflected in some believers in Corinth not caring if other believers had something to eat or drink during the fellowship meal that precedes the Lord’s Supper. Selfishness manifests itself in the fact that some did not wait for others before they began eating the meal that preceded the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. A result of this selfish act is the sin of drunkenness that the apostle already charged some of the Corinthians of being guilty in 1 Corinthians 11:21:
for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.
Selfishness and drunkenness are evidence of a person under the control of the sinful nature since they are some of the sins of the sinful nature the apostle gave in Galatians 5:20–21:
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Selfishness and drunkenness reveal a person who is not patient, kind or has self-control, the very virtues a person controlled by the Holy Spirit will display since these virtues are listed as facets of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Anyway, the point we are stressing is that celebrating the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner means to celebrate it when a person is under the control of the sinful nature instead of the Holy Spirit, so such a person becomes selfish and forgets the significance of the Lord’s Supper. Consequently, it is important that before any believer celebrates the Lord’s Supper the individual should check the soul to see who is in control – the sinful nature or the Holy Spirit. This requirement is necessary to avoid consequences of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
The first consequence of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is given in 1 Corinthians 11:27 in the words of the NIV will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. This is an interpretative translation since a more literal translation is, will be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. Our concern is to understand what the apostle meant by being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. To interpret these requires we answer three questions. What does being guilty mean? What does body of the Lord mean? What does the blood of the Lord mean?
We begin with the first question of what being guilty means. The word “guilty” is translated from a Greek word (enochos) that pertains to being required to give an account for something held against one. Thus, the word may mean “answerable” as it is used in the declaration of the Lord Jesus regarding one who gets angry unnecessarily with a brother as we read in Matthew 5:22:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
The word means “guilty” as a state of one who breaks God’s law as stated in James 2:10:
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:27, it has the sense of “liable” in the sense of giving account or being charged concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Thus, some English versions such as the NRSV and the NJB used the meaning “answerable” while the GW and the ISV translated the Greek word with the expression “held responsible.” Regardless of how it is translated the Greek word pertains to being required to give an account of doing wrong about the body and the blood of the Lord. This brings us to the second question of what the body means.
The word “body” in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:27 will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord is translated from a Greek word that we have encountered several times in the study of this passage that is concerned with the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, let us review what we have considered in the past about the word. The word “body” is translated from a Greek word (sōma) that refers to the body of a human or animal. The human body is to be understood in different ways. The body could refer to the seat of sexual function as it is used to describe the state of Abraham when the Lord promised him of having a son, as we read in Romans 4:19:
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
The body may refer to seat of mortal life so that Apostle Paul used it to indicate being alive in contrast to being dead as to be with the Lord in 2 Corinthians 5:6:
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
The body may refer to organ of human activity so that it is the activity that is done through the body that will be evaluated before the Judgment Seat of Christ as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The word may be used for the entire person as it is used in Apostle’s Paul declaration of what some in Corinth said about him, as we read in 2 Corinthians 10:10:
For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”
The phrase in person he is unimpressive is literally the bodily presence weak. The word may mean “a unified group of people” hence it is used to describe the church of Christ as we read in Ephesians 1:22–23:
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:27, the word is used with meaning of Christ’s earthly body that was subject to death, but here the sense is as a reference to the bread that is used for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
It is our interpretation that “body” in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:27 will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord refers to the bread that is used for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This is because our Lord Jesus in instituting the Lord’s Supper referred to the bread as His body as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:24:
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
The point is the “body” of the Lord in 1 Corinthians 11:27 refers to the bread used for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper with its associated significance. This brings us to the third question of what the blood of the Lord means.
The word “blood” is translated from a Greek word (haima) that we have considered previously but we review what we said about it. The Greek word literally means “blood” as the red life-fluid of humans and animals as in the description of what oozed out when the body of Jesus Christ was pierced by Roman soldiers while He was hanging on the cross as stated in John 19:34:
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Figuratively, the Greek word means “life-blood” as constituting the life of an individual. Thus, the Greek word is used for “seat of life” in the Septuagint of Leviticus 17:11:
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
Because blood is considered seat of life, the shedding of blood is the same as killing or taking of life as the word is used to describe prophets killed by Israel’s ancestors as our Lord Jesus referenced in Luke 11:50:
Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,
Some English versions such as the TEV and the CEV avoided the use of the word “blood” in their translation of this verse. For example, the sentence the blood of all the prophets that has been shed is translated in the TEV as the murder of all the prophets killed. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:25, the Greek word is used with the meaning “lifeblood”, that is, “blood of a person considered as the seat of life.”
It is true that our Greek word refers to “lifeblood” but when the word is used in connection with Jesus Christ in the phrase the blood of Christ it has a special meaning. We have studied in detail in first chapter of this epistle the phrase blood of Christ to indicate it is a reference to the death of Christ on the cross. Let me refresh your mind with an argument we used to demonstrate that the phrase blood of Christ refers to His death. Apostle Paul says that God reconciled us to Himself through the death of His son, that is, Jesus Christ, in Romans 5:10:
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
The same apostle spoke of the idea of God reconciling Himself to all things but this time he used the same phrase his blood in Colossians 1:20:
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
If reconciliation mentioned in Romans 5:10 is through the death of Jesus Christ, certainly it is the same reconciliation that the apostle had in mind in Colossians 1:20, but instead of using the word “death” in association with Christ, he used the word “blood” that was shed on the cross. Therefore, there can be no doubt that the blood of Christ refers to His death on the cross. The point then is that the blood of Christ should not be thought of in a literal sense but in a figurative sense to refer to His sacrificial death on the cross. However, in 1 Corinthians 11:27, it refers to the wine that is used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper with its associated significance. The interpretation that “blood” and “body” in 1 Corinthians 11:27 refer to the elements used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is supported by the rhetorical questions of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:16:
Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
The three questions we have answered enable us to answer the question of what Apostle Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 11:27 of being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He means that a consequence of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is that the person so involved would made liable or answerable for disregarding the spirit and or the significance of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as well as not having regard for the church of Christ. The idea of having no regard for the church of Christ is supported by what the apostle charged those who paid no attention to others in the meals that preceded the Lord’s Supper as stated in1 Corinthians 11:22:
Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
Anyway, the first consequence of improper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is being made liable for violating the spirit and significance of the celebration. This leads to the second consequence that we will examine in our next study. However, let me end our study today by reminding you of the message we are expounding which is: You must approach the Lord’s Supper with awe since there are consequences for failing to do so correctly.